
Ottawa native Anne Ewers shares lessons from a life in the arts in debut book

Ottawa native Anne Ewers has built a remarkable career leading some of the nation’s most respected opera houses and symphonies, including the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
She recently returned to her hometown for a book signing at Prairie Fox Books in Ottawa on Sept. 7, where she shared insights and discussed her debut book, “The Mentor’s Gift.”
Absolutely not! I was planning to be a K-12 music teacher and earned a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in theater to do so. Having spent the summer singing in the MUNY Opera (St. Louis) chorus, I was invited to visit one of the colleagues I met there. I was pursuing a Master of Music in vocal performance at the University of Texas at Austin. I had a blast with my opera colleagues that weekend and decided to pursue a master’s degree in opera production.